Ex-UK Labour leader Corbyn says he's starting a new left-wing party
The new formation has a website — yourparty.uk — but does not yet have a name.
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Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Controversy over how to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine
The £38m superyacht Phi should be earning her owner about £563,000 a week, hosting ultra-rich holidaymakers on trips around the sparkling Mediterranean. Instead, she is stuck at a dingy mooring in Canary Wharf, shrouded in scaffolding, her smart blue paintwork peeling and her electrics failing. And that is where, for the foreseeable future, she will stay, after the Supreme Court last week dismissed an appeal against the vessel's continued detention. More than three years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the judgment raised a question: what is the future of Russian assets frozen by the British state? In March 2022, Phi was in the UK having the finishing touches put to her plush interiors, which include an 'infinite' wine cellar, fluted leather wall panelling, an outdoor cinema and a freshwater swimming pool. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and the British government launched an aggressive round of sanctions against the Russian state and individuals connected to it. Since then, it has frozen £25bn of Russian-owned assets – including Phi. According to the judgment there is no evidence that her owner, Russian businessman Sergei Naumenko, has any connection to Vladimir Putin. He has not been sanctioned and internet searches reveal almost nothing about his life and business interests. The value of the Phi is dwarfed by that of other frozen Russian sovereign assets: held in Belgium, they are worth about £160bn. Nevertheless, former transport secretary Grant Shapps said detaining the yacht had 'turned an icon of Russia's power and wealth into a clear and stark warning to Putin and his cronies'. The Supreme Court's judgment, which also covered a case brought by the oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler, offered a more solid rationale: 'The very considerable income that Mr Naumenko claims that he could earn by chartering out the Phi to other wealthy people is likely to make its way to Russia,' it said. 'In this way it would be used to contribute to the Russian economy' – thus funding the Kremlin's war with Ukraine. Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Industry think tank, says this is typical of the government's approach to sanctions. In 2022, the focus was on taking headline-grabbing 'trophy' assets from big-name oligarchs. Now, this 'has shifted to a focus on how to seize for the benefit of Ukraine'. To an extent, this is working. The frozen funds have accrued interest, so even if the government can't use the assets directly, it can at least spend the interest they earn to benefit Ukraine. In June, the UK used £70m of interest payments received on frozen Russian funds to supply Ukraine with 350 missiles. UK government ministers have also stated an aim to direct the £2.5bn proceeds from Roman Abramovich's sale of Chelsea Football Club n 2022 to Ukraine. A government payment of £2.26bn into the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration scheme, an international loan scheme designed to help Ukraine fund its war, will be repaid using profits from sanctioned Russian assets. However, physical assets, such as buildings and superyachts, are harder to manage. Phi is 'a mess', says Guy Booth, the vessel's captain. 'The paint on her hull is peeling off because it's been constantly rubbing on the fenders in exactly the same place for three years. The technical spaces are a mess, and 40% of our onboard machinery is inoperable.' Although the government's Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued a special licence to allow maintenance of Phi, Booth says insurers won't provide cover, so he cannot take engineers on board. The Department for Transport has engaged with the insurance industry over the matter. So far, the government's options regarding tangible assets, such as Abramovich's £150m, 15-bedroom mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens, have been limited. Selling them off would be regarded as expropriation, which the government is eager not to be accused of, in order not to frighten off other international investors. Another option might be to ask oligarchs to voluntarily give up their assets. In June 2023, the government offered a route for sanctioned individuals who say they support Ukraine to 'donate their frozen funds for Ukrainian reconstruction'. However there was no offer of sanctions relief in return for such a donation. In his Mansion House speech in June, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, announced that London would host a Countering Illicit Finance Summit, which will bring countries together to work on an international solution. 'I think there could be potential in creating new laws to look at taking that from freezing to seizing, but it would need very careful balancing with property rights,' says Ben Cowdock, senior investigations lead at the Transparency International charity. 'At the moment, every country is doing something a little bit different.' In the meantime, Phi waits for the courts to decide her fate. Naumenko intends to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights, says Booth, although there is concern that she might not last if the wheels of justice turn slowly. To restore her to her former glory – with a new coat of paint, plus the electrical work and carpentry that should have been addressed during regular maintenance stops – would cost up to £8m, says Booth. There have, he adds, been a series of small fires on board, which present a risk to the residents and businesses around her mooring. Each time, 'we assemble on the quay and then we assess whether we're going to enter the ship and combat the fire, as we would if we were at sea, or whether it's better just to let it burn, and let the City of London firefighters deal with it'. A Department for Transport spokesperson welcomed Tuesday's ruling, saying: 'This decision reinforces the UK government's determination to disrupt Russia's economic war machine and return peace to Ukraine.' Photograph by Sophia Evans/The Observer
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Durham Council staff 'wanting to leave or retire' after Reform UK threats about jobs
Council staff have considered leaving their roles or retiring early after comments from Reform UK leaders, a councillor has claimed. Liberal Democrat Mark Wilkes suggested that comments made by the party nationally and locally have jeopardised officers' roles. It comes after Nigel Farage previously said council staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives should be 'seeking alternative careers' after Reform UK took control of Durham council. Cllr Wilkes also criticised the party's messaging around its recent decision to remove diversity training for all councillors after members refused participation. He told a Durham County Council scrutiny committee: 'If you're a sane person, would you feel comfortable at all working for an organisation where the political leadership might appear to be anti-staff? Even if they're not, that might be what it appears to be. 'If you are somebody with a protected characteristic - perhaps a disability or from a minority background- would you want to come and work at Durham County Council right now when you see that kind of narrative in the press? 'I have heard of staff already wanting to leave or retire early.' Reform said councillors were not legally required to take diversity, equality and inclusion training, and dismissed Cllr Wilkes' concerns as "utter nonsense". Recommended reading: Thousands of vulnerable residents face impact of proposed council tax changes Bishop Auckland STACK venue to progress after funding lifeline Speeding concerns on County Durham road are 'ignored' by council, MPs say In May, Mr Farage warned council staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek 'alternative careers' after the party took control of the local authority. The local authority is believed to have just 1.8 full-time-equivalent diversity roles, which are connected to duties required by law. Durham County Council was urged to maintain its roll of 'quality' workers across several council departments to help deliver cost-effective services. Cllr Wilkes said: 'You can't have a well-functioning council, and you can't make savings, if you don't have quality staff.' The opposition councillor's plea was supported by Reform's John Cook, chair of the corporate overview and scrutiny management board, who said: 'I agree. This should be a great place to work and our community should be a great place to live.' Meanwhile, the party's deputy leader, Darren Grimes, added: 'He claims, without a shred of evidence, that staff are 'wanting to leave'. This is pure political scaremongering. 'Let me be clear: there is no statistically significant change. The mass exodus he imagines exists only in his alarmist fantasies.'
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why Reeves would do best to bank on Bailey
Rachel Reeves is fighting on too many fronts. She remains wedded to her 'iron clad' fiscal rules when even the traditionally hawkish German government is relaxing its budgetary rules to make provision for extra defence spending. Moreover, the chancellor has moved into potentially dangerous territory by antagonising the Bank of England. She is in open conflict with governor Andrew Bailey over her extraordinary scheme to relax the financial regulation that was brought in after the 2007-2009 banking crisis to ringfence retail banking – a service for business and the general public – from the excesses of investment banking. This is all supposed to be in the interests of the faster economic growth on which she has rashly staked her reputation. But the UK's financial sector is quite big enough already. It is there to serve the interests of the wider manufacturing, innovative and service economy, as well as us 'consumers'; it is not supposed to be an object of growth in itself. Bailey is rightly worried about the threat to the financial system of governments playing fast and loose with the rules. The chancellor used to go on about the brief period she spent as a junior Bank of England official, but that hardly bears comparison with Bailey's experience there. After a 40-year career on Threadneedle Street, Bailey knows the City in general – and the banking system in particular – inside out. One of the great governors of the past 40 years was 'Steady' Eddie George (1993 to 2003). Bailey ran George's private office for a time and learned at the feet of the master. Alas, George's successor, Mervyn King, was not as interested in the City as most Bank governors are, and, sadly, the Bank took its eye off the ball in the run-up to the 2007-09 banking crisis. Bailey must be well aware of this. It shows not only in his opposition to Reeves's advocacy of deregulation, but also in a more parochial dispute he is having with the chancellor over the granting of banking licences to Revolut, the challenger fintech firm. Actually the relationship between governments and central banks is a hot topic at present, not least on account of the abuse being levelled at Jay Powell, chair of the United States central bank, the Federal Reserve, by Donald Trump – still president of the US at the time of writing. While Trump does his best to disrupt the trading relationships of the world economy, the Federal Reserve is concerned about the domestic inflationary threat from his tariff policies. Powell has, understandably, been refusing to bow to Trump's repeated requests for the Fed to lower interest rates. The president has called this distinguished central banker a 'numbskull' for doing his job and refusing to kowtow. When the Bank of England was granted operational independence to decide on interest rates policy – by chancellor Gordon Brown and his economic adviser Ed Balls in 1997 – I was concerned about the consequences of transferring such policy decisions from a democratically elected government to non-elected officials. However, I prefer the judgment of Powell to that of Trump; and I prefer the judgment of Bailey to that of Reeves. Both Bailey and his immediate predecessor, Mark Carney, saw through the tissue of lies produced by the Brexiters in the runup to 2016. We are continuing to live with the consequences of Brexit. It is about time that prime minister Keir Starmer and his chancellor woke up to the need to adopt the most obvious growth policy: a return to the customs union and single market. Photograph by Getty
